921 A Forceful Intrusion (1/2)

A lamp's oil running out was just a normal occurrence, but it became the cause for a lot of suspicion as well as a lot of arguments between a couple of servants.

”Someone living in another courtyard must have needed more oil so they took the oil here away.”

”Why would they take just the oil? Wouldn't it be easier to just take the lamp?”

”They're all weird people and their thoughts are… ”

”Shh… Do you want to die?”

”Look, do you see this? There are traces of smoke on the wall. Someone must have lit the lamp in this room to read the patterns.”

”Impossible. I don't know anything about kung fu, but I still know these patterns are defective. If I were in charge, I would have had all of them removed.”

”Should we report this then?”

”I think so.”

”Even a dead body is not a big deal, not to mention the oil in a lamp running out. Go ahead and report it if you want to make a contribution. I'd like to see how you'll reply when the steward asks you questions.”

After discussing it for quite a while, those servants reached an agreement: they would refuel the lamp, resume their work, and never mention this again. And they certainly wouldn't report this to their superior, as nobody had ever required them to report everything.

Then, those servants scattered. It was at this moment that Gu Shenwei realized how huge of a mistake he had made. He had left many traces in more than a couple of stone chambers, all of which was more than enough for an experienced Green-faced killer to use to track him down.

Fortunately…

He had to rid of his obsession; besides, it had been a long time since he had last taken a break or eaten food. His strength was declining. Even if he managed to instantly master all the moves on the wall, he still wouldn't be able to break through a siege of Green-faced killers.

Gu Shenwei moved to a stone chamber that those servants had just cleaned. He forced himself to ignore the patterns on the wall, and instead sat down in a corner and concentrated on circulating his Qi to regain his strength.

I'll have plenty of time to do this in the future, he thought. I'll eventually take Golden Roc Castle and by then, I'll be able to research these kung fu moves whenever I want. Besides, he had already memorized dozens of sword moves from at least ten cultivation methods. If he kept reading and memorizing more moves, he might end up failing to absorb any of them.

But the moves on the wall tempted him like how a table full of delicious food with tantalizing aroma tempted a starving person. There were several occasions where Gu Shenwei stood up, planning on continuing to read those patterns, but every time, he eventually managed to stop himself from doing so.

More and more Green-faced killers came to practice kung fu, and they came in groups of three or five. In different courtyards, they imitated the kung fu of the Dragon King and that of the Central-Plains swordsman, discussing solutions to both forms. If they encountered any difficulties, then they would go read the patterns on the wall, trying to find an answer.

They were also obsessed and failed to discover the eavesdropper next door.

After eavesdropping in on a couple conversations, Gu Shenwei drew a conclusion: these Green-faced killers had already formulated a certain number of plans to defeat powerful opponents. Though all of these plans involved assassination, they were trying to minimize the importance of assassination skills in these plans. They were not there yet, but they were close.

Night fell. The Green-faced killers' discussions became more and more intense. Two of them were even killed, indicating the failure of two of their solutions.

Gu Shenwei sneaked to the place where he and Old Man Mu had parted ways two days ago, but Old Man Mu was no longer there.

Old Man Mu was not a killer, and he was certainly not an obedient subordinate, which was why he had obviously run out of patience and gone somewhere else. Gu Shenwei didn't try to find him and instead continued walking along the foot of the walls of the inner chamber, planning to steal the birds in the main hall by himself.

In the middle of his walk over, his calm broke, as he felt uneasy. It was as if he had made a huge mistake in leaving those stone chambers, as if the patterns inside were about to be destroyed at any moment.

He had to remind himself again and again that leaving the stone castle unharmed was the most important thing, and that he was the Dragon King, the supreme commander of hundreds of thousands of troops.

He had already been gone from the camp for two days and three nights. This absence may have already caused dire consequences…

After thinking about this, he even felt that it was unnecessary to steal the birds, and that immediately leaving was the top priority.

There was also another issue on his mind. The original manuscript of the Death Sutra was in a random outcrop near Reincarnation Cliff, and it had been several years since he had been there, so it was a secret that only he knew about. Originally he had planned on going there and retrieving the sutra, but now, after he thought about it again, he believed that it would be better to keep it under the enemy's nose. Particularly because he couldn't find a better place to store it at the moment anyway.

This night, Gu Shenwei was destined to not be in a killer's mindset. While climbing up a stone wall, he even accidentally knocked a small stone fall to the ground, causing a distinct sound to be heard. Fortunately, he was in a remote corner and there were no common killers or Green-faced killers hiding nearby.

At last, Gu Shenwei decided to abort the mission. Golden Roc Castle's lack of killers was merely a semblance. They had to be guarding their important areas even more heavily than before, and the main hall was probably one of those areas. Given the current state he was in, he would be walking into a trap if he tried to steal the birds.

Gu Shenwei secretly pleaded for the golden-crowned rocs' forgiveness, as they would have to stay around their foe for a few more days.

Not long after he started retracing his steps, Gu Shenwei found that something was wrong. The route he had chosen was far away from the important areas of Golden Roc Castle, and there had been no guards nearby at all. But now, not even an hour after his journey, he found traces of a hidden sentry – a pile of snow that originally hadn't been there.

He observed for a while and saw the pile of snow move. As expected, there was a guard.

Gu Shenwei didn't think that this was a coincidence. Golden Roc Castle was not the kind of organization that would react dramatically. Even if they found intruders, they would only react quietly.

Gu Shenwei left the patterns in the stone chambers behind, the Death Sutra at Reincarnation Cliff, as well as the giant rocs in the main hall. He regained the absolute composure that killers should always have, gave up his former route, and tried to find another way downhill.

The third night-watch had passed, but Gu Shenwei was still stuck in the inner chamber in the northern part of the castle.